Metal and Gold Stuck To Bottom of Unglaced Crucible

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M

MacintoshHD

New member
Joined
Oct 22, 2017
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4
I have a Mullite Crucible. It wasn't glaced with Borax before I did any work

I melted a gold plated hook, but I did not realize that it was filled with another metal and gold plated.

gf-lob30.jpg

The first step is to try to get the metal out of the crucible.

I have a MAPP Torch (3730 F) and a TableTop RapidFire Pro-L Kiln (2200 F).

I have some Boric Acid Crystals on hand.

How can I get the metal out of there? Just putting it in the kiln or heating it with the torch does not work, even when I place the crucible upside down.

IMG_9758.jpg
 
Just add flux and don't melt anything in there you expect to be pure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The urge to melt low grade materials seems irresistible to many newbies so can I point out that now you have made the job of recovering the very very small amount of gold there a lot, a hell of a lot harder than needs be.
You have mixed by melting all the metals together whereas before the gold was visible on the surface which is a lot easier to recover for later refining.
 
Well at least it was a learning experience.

Using Borax and putting it in a furnace upside down has separated some of the gold.

I don't think the crucible is salvageable, I may cut it up and try to extract the last of the gold there. You can see the gold attached to the metal.

Any tips? See pictures.
 

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Not wanting to be rude but the crucible is probably worth more than the gold so keep the crucible for melting dirty gold.
 
There is not enough gold in the bottom of your crucible to make it worth cutting it up. Save the crucible - I'm not sure if the message is being presented in the right way but you have a fraction of a cent in the gold in that blob. Yes it's really that little.
 
Guys --- I don't think MacintoshHD is asking how to recover (the not worth it) gold --- rather he is asking how to get the metal stuck in the crucible out

The answer to that starts with why the metal is stuck in the crucible in the first place - its stuck there because its not enough metal to roll/flow in an unglazed crucible - sooo - the answer to getting it out is "adding" more metal to give it enough weight to roll/flow on the unglazed surface

"Dirty" gold, silver or copper could all be used to do this --- in other words he needs to add enough other metal to "collect" the stuck metal as well as enough to roll/flow when molten --- I would also add 50/50 borax/soda ash flux - the soda ash will help by dissolving (the surface edges) of the crucible where the button is stuck so it better releases & collects with the added metal

As already said - the crucible is then only good for doing dirty melts - or smelting

Kurt
 
kurtak said:
Guys --- I don't think MacintoshHD is asking how to recover (the not worth it) gold --- rather he is asking how to get the metal stuck in the crucible out
Click to expand...

Hi mate. He was actually asking about how to get the metal out because in his words "there is gold in it." Hence the style of the replies 8)

Jon

ps How's the road trip going?
 
Ok I personally would grab quite a bit of copper and some borax. As mentioned above heat it all up and let it flow. Or use silver .925 Cooper is cheaper but yeah. Too small of a piece on a unglazed crucible in that size
 

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